Akashavani's Dilkhulas celebrates 500 episodes

Deepasree Venugopal - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
It is said that after the influx of electronic media, radio listeners shifted to television and radio lost its charm. But Akashavani's, a popular programme produced by Directorate General of Information and Public Relations,(DGIPR) - Government of Maharashtra and broadcast by Akashavani's, Mumbai has proved this notion wrong.

Dilkhulas is based on the interviews of experts and top officials from different fields. It reaches to about 60 lakh listeners and completed 500 episodes just last week. Dilkhulas is being aired on 20 Akashavani's centres including Mumbai across Maharashtra at 7:25 am.

To celebrate the completion of the 500th programme, Akashavani's has been airing a special interview of Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare taken by professor Sujata Mahajan in three parts. Devendra Bhujbal, team leader and deputy director of News, DGIPR, shares of how the programme touched reached the common man and the secret behind its huge popularity.

"Dilkhulas was started on November 16. In this programme, we interview ministers and people from government bodies as well as from various fields such as education, culture, literature, health, technology, travel and art in such a way that the common people will benefit from it," Bhujbal explains.

"Our team comprises comperes such as Pradeep Bhide, Raju Parulekar and Vasanti Vartak. For two years we used to broadcast it from Wednesday to Saturday but on public demand we now air it for six days in a week." he says.

Bhujbal adds, "We started Dilkhulas Patrasamvad on the last Saturday of every month. In this we have an interaction with the audience regarding what kind of information they would like to get and the names of the guests we should invite."

Bhujbal says though Dilkhulas is a government programme and most of the ministers from the state government including chief minster Ashok Chavan and deputy chief minister Chagan Bhujbal, they interview experts from varied backgrounds as well.

Dilkhulas also encourages the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination toppers and also takes an effort to reach the rural and urban audience through its various initiatives. "On every third Saturday we broadcast Dilkhulas Prerna where UPSC toppers share their experiences," he says.

"We have also published a book on the programme titled Varsha Dilkhulas Samvadache. Our recent initiative is Dilkhulas Aplya Gavi under which the team of Dilkhulas visits small villages where people are asked questions and those who give the right answers are presented with books." Bhujbal concludes.